The invention relates to a cantilever hinge, especially for paneled doors of period furniture, with a supporting wall part and a door part which are joined together by a knuckle joint mechanism formed by two arms coupled pivotingly together in their middle portion, one end of the one arm being articulated to the supporting wall part and one end of the other arm being articulated to the door part, while the other end in each case is coupled to the other hinge part, either in a sliding guide or indirectly by means of a link.
Cantilever hinges of this kind permit the door of a piece of furniture to open more than 90.degree.--as a rule to as much as 180.degree.--even when the door in question is laterally adjoined by projections or other cabinet doors. These hinges were developed to enable the doors of modern modular cabinets to open even when they are in space-saving abutment with the adjacent door; for this reason they are also known as 180.degree. overlapping door hinges. In these modern modular cabinets, the doors are situated adjacent one another with a minimum of space between, and the hinges must be invisible, at least when in the closed state.
In the present state of the home decorating art, there is an increasing demand for furniture which is reminiscent of a bygone era, even though the consumer is not ready to dispense with the technical advantages of modern furniture. However, overlapping doors cannot be used in furniture adapted from antique styles. Instead, rabbeted doors are used, as a rule, with protruding frames or the like, which exclude the use of the more modern overlapping door hinges or canilever hinges for reasons of space and styling. The spatial difficulties lie in the fact that a door whose rabbeted portion is fitted into the interior of a cabinet requires a hinge motion which will provide for a considerably greater component of motion for the removal of the door leaf out of the cabinet if this door leaf is to be pivoted by 180.degree. and must clear a projecting pilaster or an adjacent door possibly provided with projecting marginal decorations or carving. With the known cantilever hinges, such movements have not yet been achieved. Styling furthermore requires that the visible part of the hinge resemble the single--pivot hinges of the past, which had external sleeve-like joints which contained a hinge pin. Also, it is desirable that the joint, which is of elongated, cylindrical shape, and provided in some cases with decorative turned terminations, not merely consist of separately superimposed hardware imitating the joint, but actually perform functional duties of a hinge. Hinges of this kind, suitable for rabbeted doors for period-style furniture or for furniture having protruding moldings or pilasters, so as to enable the doors to be opened 180.degree., have not been available hitherto.
Theoretically, it would be conceivable to construct the well-known single-pivot hinge such that the door leaf, upon opening, would emerge from the door opening by the necessary amount, so that a pivoting movement of 180.degree. would be possible with clearance of adjacent pilasters or of an adjacent door with projecting carvings; to this end, however, the pivot point would have to be located far out from the supporting wall and the door frame, which not only is unattractive, but also dangerous since the clothing of uncautious persons can catch on the projecting joints.